Yield components and cultivar, sowing date and density in field beans (Viciafaba)

Delay in sowing the cultivars Ostlers (Viciafaba var. equina) and Herz Freya (V.faba var. minor) beyond late February depressed yield. Densities of at least sixty plants per m² were required to ensure that yield was not limited by sowing rate. Differences in yield in response to changes in density were reflected particularly in changes in numbers of pod-bearing nodes per plant, but also to a lesser extent in numbers of pods per pod-bearing node. The inherently larger seed weight of cv. Ostlers compared with cv. Herz Freya did not confer any yield advantage, differences in number of beans per pod and number of pods per pod-bearing node tending to equalize the yield of the two cultivars. The most stable component of yield throughout was number of beans per pod, and the least stable was number of pod-bearing nodes per plant.